WEBVTT - Ed Helms - Pt. 1 0:00:05.680 --> 0:00:09.160 This is Ed Helms and I played Andy Bernard on 0:00:09.240 --> 0:00:19.720 The Office. Hello everybody, welcome back. This is the Office 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:23.840 Deep Dive. In case you clicked on the wrong podcast, 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:28.680 I'm your host Brian baum Gartner. Today I am delighted 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:35.640 to bring you my conversation with America's banjo playing sweetheart 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:39.440 Ed Helms. Um. Now, a lot of people don't know this. 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:41.920 Ed and I knew each other very well, I mean 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:44.919 very well. We went to the same high school. We 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:48.640 went to the Westminster Schools in Atlanta, Georgia. We were 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:54.120 in the same ensemble choir I think, or corral or 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:57.080 something anyway where we sang back when I pretended to sing. 0:00:57.440 --> 0:00:59.760 He still sings, but I don't. I don't think so 0:00:59.840 --> 0:01:03.280 much anymore. But we had a bond and we're not 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:07.880 just Georgians or Atlanta's. We are those things, but we 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:10.440 are from the same high school in the same area 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:14.080 and grew up with the same people. So our history 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:19.240 is very very shared. And Ed and I lost. We 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:21.280 weren't in touch for a number of years. He was 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:24.360 doing stand up comedy and was on the Daily Show 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:27.480 in New York and I was traveling around doing theater, 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:31.960 and eventually landed in Los Angeles and when we were 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:37.520 shooting the webisodes, this would have been the summer of 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:41.520 two thousand and six, and uh, I was shooting a 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:45.600 talking head and suddenly, right behind the camera, I see 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:50.560 Greg Daniels walked by, followed by Ed Helms, and all 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:53.320 I I can't even I don't even think at that moment, Oh, 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:58.280 that's actor Ed Helms or that's Daily Show correspondent Ed Helms. 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:03.400 My mind goes, that's why is Ed Helms here? My 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:06.680 friend from high school? Like that's all. Like he didn't 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:10.320 call and tell me he was coming. And uh, of 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:13.480 course he was in the middle of an interview and 0:02:13.520 --> 0:02:16.320 tour with Greg Daniels, who he was meeting with about 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:20.200 about coming on the Office starting in season three. So 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:21.880 that was the first time I had seen him in 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:26.639 a a long time. But oh man, if you ever 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:30.600 get a chance to spend in the evening with Ed Helms, 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:37.640 you will not be disappointed. He is joyful above all else, 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:39.640 more than anyone else who was on the show, or 0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:43.280 maybe anyone that I've ever met. He is a joyful, 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:51.520 soul fulful person, soulful. I'm having trouble saying the word soulful, 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:54.480 but I think I got it the second time. I 0:02:54.520 --> 0:03:04.200 don't know. Here is ed Helms, Bubble and squeak I 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:10.480 love it. Bubble and squeak on Bubble and squeaker cookie 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:25.200 every month left over from the NAT before. Hey, dude, 0:03:25.480 --> 0:03:28.440 are you wonderful? Oh my god, it's so good to 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:35.360 see you too. You look so much older. Okay, alright, alright, 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:39.800 here's your ginger snaps? What is That's so funny? I 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:45.000 don't know why that's there. May be there for your assistant. Um, 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:49.080 she just started a week and a half ago, and 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:51.600 you're not like I've never had a conversation with her 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:57.200 about ginger snaps. So do you like ginger snaps? Well? Sure, 0:03:57.240 --> 0:03:59.120 who doesn't like ginger snaps? I know, but it's that 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:01.120 like a thing that you ask for it when you 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:04.720 go to work. Never, never, ever, have I ever asked 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:09.040 for ginger snaps. Yeah, I don't know. How are you? 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:11.160 When was the last time you were back in Atlanta? 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:16.200 I haven't been to Atlanta and way too long I did. Uh, 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:19.839 I did three movies there over the last few years. 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:24.520 But um, I am getting a little homesick for Atlanta, 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:27.240 which I never thought i'd say, I'm very happy to 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:30.680 be not living there, but but I do like it 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:34.480 when I go back now. Right, my last three years, 0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:41.640 I've shot movies in North Carolina, Mexico, and Columbus Georgia. 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:46.080 And Columbus Georgia was far the hottest. Well, the hard 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:49.880 part about hot weather in the South, and I really 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:54.320 hope we can stick with weather as a subject. Sorry, 0:04:55.200 --> 0:04:57.720 but I love it. No, honestly, it's fun to talk 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:00.760 about Georgia. I know, I know, I know both from there, 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:04.960 but it's it does there's no reprieve like in l 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:08.600 A or in in desert climates, or or like even 0:05:08.600 --> 0:05:11.960 in the Northeast it cools off at night, whereas in 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:15.400 the South there's no escape, Like if you're in the shade, 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:19.440 you're still muggy and hot, and then when night comes, 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:23.320 it's just a hot night. It's not like a cool 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:28.720 like the temperature does not go down. Autumn, Yeah, Halloween 0:05:28.839 --> 0:05:33.159 is when I miss miss Atlanta because that the autumn's 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:37.200 there so long. They're so it's so protracted, the trees 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:40.880 are changing forever. That's when I get Missy for right, 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:45.080 So you moved out of Atlanta, you went to the Northeast, Now, 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:48.880 what were you doing right before you came onto the Office. 0:05:50.000 --> 0:05:52.800 I was on the Daily Show. Yeah. Yeah, I've been 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:55.839 on the Daily Show for four and a half years. 0:05:56.960 --> 0:06:04.560 And I had done a pilot for NBC for Kevin Riley. 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:07.039 It was really fun. It was a multi camera pilot 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:08.800 that I that the Daily Show let me kind of 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:10.880 sneak away to do it. It It was just a few 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:13.880 weeks of work and it did not get picked up, 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:16.800 but it was a ton of fun. And then it 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:21.960 went really well, and Kevin Riley was I guess he 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:24.960 liked he liked me, so he so he made a 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:28.440 talent deal with me at NBC. It's funny. I you know, 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:31.440 I remember I remember being at the Daily Show and 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:34.160 and and I knew Steve from the Daily Show. You 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:37.880 worked with him? Yeah, we we overlapped, not very much, 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:42.440 but enough that you know that we were acquaintances. Uh. 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:46.000 We overlapped probably five or six months or something. And 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:50.120 then I just remember getting word that he was gonna 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:55.680 do the Office and just thinking like that is so perfect, 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:58.760 that is going to be so good. So you knew 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:01.599 the British version of it? Oh, I yes, for sure. Yeah, 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:05.360 I mean, I you know, I'm I'm a comedy nerd 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:08.599 and was very much in the comedy universe. And uh, 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:14.280 and so then the idea of I mean, Steve's character 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:18.160 on the on the Daily Show was at its best 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:21.640 when he was of sort of a version of Michael Scott, 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:26.560 like not self aware, kind of usually less informed than 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:30.600 everyone around him. Um, he was brilliant on The Daily 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:34.960 Show because he really kind of pioneered the form of 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:38.480 Daily Show segments in which the correspondent is the butt 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:42.520 of the jokes as opposed to really just making fun 0:07:42.560 --> 0:07:47.640 of somebody else. Yeah, which is which is easy and 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:50.360 means spirited. Usually it's kind of shooting fish in a 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:54.240 bucket and it's not as interesting. But Steve kind of 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:58.400 really shifted that and found this way of being kind 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:02.440 of an idiot news porter, and that was so funny 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:06.240 and fresh and and still able to get great satire 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:10.800 into the pieces. Um, that's true. Often he played like 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:15.840 the pseudo expert or the you know, the teacher in 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:21.080 a way that then became yeah, just confident about the 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:24.760 wrong things, right. And and so that's why when I 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:26.640 heard he was going to do The Office, I just 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:30.960 was like that, I mean, yes, Ricky Gervais is a genius. 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:35.400 This version will also be great. Uh And then it was. 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:38.600 And what's crazy, I think I told you this recently too, 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:41.280 is that was so around that time, I was just 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:44.120 sort of looking for my exit strategy from the Daily Show. 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:46.520 I I loved working there, but I knew that I 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:50.360 had to just shake things up because I was really 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:52.920 starting to feel like in a rut. So I was 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:55.320 auditioning for a lot of things, and I did. I got. 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:58.320 I auditioned for the The Office, like the original cast 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:02.040 of the Office, And you auditioned Jim. Is that right? Yes, 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:08.200 I'm almost positive. Then I auditioned for Jim. Yeah. And 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:12.000 you know, obviously it would have been a better show 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:19.720 if I were Jim, clearly, Um, but this wasn't you 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:22.000 were in New York because in New York City, and 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:24.600 and you know, I went to thirty Rock at the 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:27.800 casting office there, and I forget the casting director's name. 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:31.080 It was the head of casting for NBC in New York. 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:34.360 In New York, Yeah, and I just went in. It 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:37.680 was I was. I was excited about it because I 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:42.760 knew the British version, but I wasn't super optimistic or anything. 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:45.840 And I don't remember it being an especially good or 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:49.520 bad audition. I just kind of went in and I'd 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:52.160 love to see the tape. I don't know if it's 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:58.480 so so great. I know that, but like, yeah, Rain 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:01.640 and Jenna's and I've seen a few of them out there, 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:07.800 but that's so crazy, that funny. I'll ask Allison Jones, Um, 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:11.760 so okay. So then so you don't get Jim. Don't 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:14.440 get Jim. It's just sort of back to business as 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:17.800 usual at the Daily Show. I'm trying to cultivate some 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:21.520 ideas to bring back to NBC, maybe just you know, 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:23.360 on the off chance that they take a shot on 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:28.280 developing a real show with me. And I was out 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:31.640 here for some reason and word came down, why don't 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:36.800 you meet with Greg and just have a chat. And 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:38.760 so I went in and we had a chat and 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:44.800 it was great. I remember Greg had seen this short 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:49.559 that I did with my friend Nick Poppy called Zombie American, 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:55.000 and it was it was basically a mockumentary about a 0:10:55.120 --> 0:10:57.520 zombie just trying to get out on the dating scene 0:10:57.559 --> 0:11:00.480 and all the sort of um, all the it falls 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:03.160 of being like why being a zombie is like the problem. 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:06.720 It's a liability on the on the dating scene. And uh, 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:09.080 it was you know, tiny little short with no budget, 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:11.160 but we spent all the money on the zombie makeup, 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:14.120 so it was like a hard commitment to full on 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:17.280 press thattic zombie, which made it super funny because I 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:20.360 the character was just a guy talking to the camera 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:23.240 and you know, talking about how like it's awkward on 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:26.560 a date when your finger falls off or or um 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:29.280 or when people you show up for a blind date 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:31.560 and they see you from afar and turn and walk 0:11:31.600 --> 0:11:34.959 away and and and it was like a this really poignant, 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:39.120 very real but also obviously very silly piece and it's 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:42.360 it was like a ten minute short and Greg had 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:45.880 seen that. I don't know how it was not out there, 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:49.160 but um he got in his hands on it. That 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:52.160 I think was probably my best foot forward as an 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:55.480 office character, because it was talking heads to the camera, 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:58.960 it was small performance, it was very it was just 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:03.240 totally in the same family as the office. So that 0:12:03.320 --> 0:12:05.240 was part of the conversation. And then they then he 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:08.560 and Paul Paul Liebersteon came in and he started talking 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:16.560 about this character Andy Connecticut Yacht Club spoiled and obviously 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:20.240 we're not from Connecticut. We're not from yacht clubs, but 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:23.280 we're from you know, we went to prep school in 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:27.320 Atlanta with I think kids that are totally analogous to 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:29.920 Andy Bernard, and so it was a type that I 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:34.240 understood immediately, white white belt with the yeah, just like 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:40.920 yeah loafers upbraided white belt and polos and that. So yeah, 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:43.320 we just started talking about it and it and it 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:46.800 was making us laugh and pitching kind of like, oh, yeah, 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:51.040 he probably took sailing lessons, but uh, never passed the 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:53.640 test that allows you to actually take sailboats out from 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:56.080 the yacht club because he just wasn't good at I 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:58.840 don't know, just like dumb fun stuff that when we 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:03.840 were laughing about it, and then I went back to 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:09.240 work at the Daily Show and got the call that hey, 0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:12.960 we're gonna do a couple of episodes, you know in 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:17.640 this Scranton off I mean in the Stanford Stanford office, 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:20.920 and I was told it would be two months of work. 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:24.520 They had in mind eight episodes, I think. So I 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:29.400 went to my ep at the Daily Show and I said, look, 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:33.960 this is Steve's show, it's in the family. What do 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:37.200 you say. Can I go and do this? It's two months. 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:40.480 It's a long time. This was also right around the 0:13:40.520 --> 0:13:44.040 time that Colbert had left to do the Colbert Report. 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:47.480 It just was kind of a fraud time for correspondence 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:51.000 at the Daily Show. Um, and they were very skittish 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:54.600 about it, and they were like, I just we don't 0:13:54.880 --> 0:13:59.400 think we can let you go. You know, it's there's 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:01.560 a lot going on in the world and we just 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:05.840 need And I was very I was very disappointed, but 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:08.840 you know, tried to kind of understand that, and it 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:11.560 put me in this bind where I was like, I 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:17.120 can either resign from the Daily Show for two months 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:23.920 of work or turned down The Office. And my analysis was, well, 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:26.040 I've been on the Daily Show for four and a 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:28.160 half years. There's nothing I can do on this show 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:33.800 now that's gonna like change how I'm perceived out there. 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:37.040 I'll get better and better and do hopefully do funnier 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:39.280 and funnier stuff, but it's not no one's gonna see 0:14:39.280 --> 0:14:41.160 that I can act. No one's gonna see that I 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:43.720 can do other stuff. And The Office was not a 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:46.160 hit at this point either. Like it was it was. 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:50.160 It was like a very show that I loved, but 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:53.800 it was by no means like a sure thing to 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:57.280 jump into, but I just decided it was worth the 0:14:57.400 --> 0:14:59.800 risk and I had to. I had like, even if 0:14:59.840 --> 0:15:04.240 I only worked for those eight weeks, I would have 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:08.960 a really good new thing. So I took the plunge, 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:32.720 and the rest is history, as they say. So, Greg 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:36.880 talked to me about the idea of Andy and Stanford 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:43.480 as being basically to Jim Dwight in Scranton, but with 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:48.120 a whole different demeanor, right, like you talked about preppy 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:54.440 East Coast waspy, little ivy but incompetent and idiot, but 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:58.520 in a totally different way than the trans am heavy 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:04.160 metal engines and dragon weird nerd in in Scranton. Right, 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:07.560 Were you aware of that? I don't think I understood 0:16:07.600 --> 0:16:12.640 at that time exactly how analogous Stanford was supposed to 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:16.400 be to Scranton, and I didn't think too hard about 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:22.280 it because it was really interesting because this we shot obviously, 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:24.880 all of our stuff was on the on another set, 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:30.080 and we didn't interact with you guys much at all 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:33.440 during that time, just by virtue of the fact that 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:36.200 we were shooting on separate stages at different times and 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:39.680 different stories and all that stuff. So I really felt 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:41.640 like we were in our own show, Like we were 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:44.440 kind of doing our own thing. Um, And it was 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:48.280 instantly the most fun thing I've ever done. Like it 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:53.320 was instantly, it just was so joyful. Rashida and I 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:55.760 were kind of the new kids, like we we were 0:16:55.800 --> 0:16:58.960 a little click that kind of had each other's back. 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:02.880 The rights were clearly having fun with our characters, which 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:05.760 is the best. I mean, that's when it's you're really 0:17:06.760 --> 0:17:09.000 having fun. The writers were showing up to set and 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:12.280 joking around with us, and John was I mean John, 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:16.120 he obviously was such a stalwart of the show at 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:22.920 that and and central character, so his disposition towards us 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:26.320 really mattered, I think to us and to our kind 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:29.920 of like self esteem coming into this, And he could 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:35.160 not have been more warm and fun and playful, and 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:38.199 but like having the confidence of somebody who had been 0:17:38.200 --> 0:17:40.919 there a couple of years or you know, it was 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:45.960 really just a year, two seasons. Um, we just jelled 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:50.639 and were instantly having fun and making each other laugh 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:55.360 um a lot. It just felt great. Yeah, I never 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:58.920 thought about this before until you started talking that. It's 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:03.040 almost as the John in the middle of doing a 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:07.480 show basically had a spin off that then was still 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:10.359 a part of the same show, right, like a spin office, 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:13.520 taking a character and going and creating another show around 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:16.080 that character in a different environment. And in a way, 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:21.040 that's what was happening. I think looking back, I I mean, 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:24.800 I think that that was a test of us about 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:27.439 an actual spinoff. But I don't I mean, I'm not 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:29.399 in Greg's head. I don't know the answer that. I've 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:32.680 never asked him that, but I years later, looking back, 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:35.320 it just seemed like it was just like a set 0:18:35.400 --> 0:18:37.359 up for a spin It's it's the way sit coomes 0:18:37.560 --> 0:18:40.840 at that time. We're spinning shows off, like you put 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:42.760 someone in a new environment and all of a sudden 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:45.200 introduced new characters that all of a sudden like they're 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:51.040 in a new Times line. Um. But but I don't 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:52.479 know that. I don't know if it's two or not. 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:54.760 But you're you're right, it did. It was kind of 0:18:54.800 --> 0:18:59.080 a classic spinoff move. It just wound up re kind 0:18:59.080 --> 0:19:04.520 of merging back into the into the original show. Yeah, 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:06.560 I've been thinking a lot about and you hear about 0:19:06.560 --> 0:19:09.560 the office. You think of the Office as being sort 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:12.320 of in a place of stasis, right that there's the 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:17.320 bullpen and that's what the office is, and people get 0:19:17.440 --> 0:19:21.120 used to that, and people like that, and they don't 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:25.359 typically like it when something changes. But I felt like 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:29.120 what Greg did, he kept, whether it was conscious or not, 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:34.680 creating sort of a new kinetic energy by disrupting by 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:38.399 making Jim go to Stanford, by making Pam go to 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:41.840 art school, you know, And that helped the momentum of 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:49.359 the show, and I think provided a stark relief for comparison, because, 0:19:49.359 --> 0:19:52.359 like you were saying before, it really was an analog 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:56.680 Chip as the boss was so different from Michael Scott 0:19:57.359 --> 0:19:59.080 like he was. He was sort of like the cool 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:03.800 jock bas right, but but problematic for other reasons, you know, 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:06.520 like wanting to play Call of Duty all the time. 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:10.359 And and then I my my character being sort of 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:14.120 like a Dwight analog as you said, but totally different, 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:20.640 Rashida being romantic competitor. It's all like, yeah, I think 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:23.760 it it's just served to really heighten all of what 0:20:23.840 --> 0:20:28.680 was great about Scranton. Yeah, so at some point you 0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:32.000 are told that you're going to stick around and now 0:20:32.000 --> 0:20:35.399 you're going to come in and join scrant How was 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:41.560 that transition? So I can't remember when it became clear 0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:43.840 that I was going to stick around, if it was 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:47.960 before we did started doing episodes in Scranton or after, 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:51.160 because I think Andy's departure to Anger Management was sort 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:56.280 of like the end of my agreed upon time. I 0:20:56.920 --> 0:21:00.640 can't quite remember all that timeline, but I will say this, 0:21:01.160 --> 0:21:08.120 those first few episodes in the Scranton office was like 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:11.719 it's like a little kid walking into Yankee Stadium. Like 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:15.800 even though the show wasn't huge, it was huge to me. 0:21:16.040 --> 0:21:20.119 And I loved it, and I loved what everybody was doing, 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:23.119 and I just thought it was the funniest thing in 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:25.600 the world. And so to walk in onto that set 0:21:25.600 --> 0:21:29.840 and actually have lines and have like fun stuff to do, 0:21:30.520 --> 0:21:33.199 I just felt like I was in the major leagues 0:21:33.240 --> 0:21:36.880 and uh in it, but not in an intimidating way, 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:40.840 in a like supported way. And um, you guys, everyone 0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:44.000 was so cool, right. It just was such a great 0:21:45.080 --> 0:21:50.760 group of people. Uh, it was just fun. Well and 0:21:50.760 --> 0:21:53.439 and you know, now hearing more of the specifics of 0:21:53.440 --> 0:21:56.119 your story. Early on, I mean, we were all a 0:21:56.480 --> 0:22:01.959 group of actors that had had minimal to no success 0:22:02.000 --> 0:22:06.000 in television and film at that point, from varying degrees 0:22:06.359 --> 0:22:10.880 like six months before I was doing theater and just 0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:14.160 just starting right. And you know, Steve had done obviously 0:22:14.200 --> 0:22:16.080 the Daily Show, but when even when Steve was on, 0:22:16.160 --> 0:22:18.639 it was kind of before the Daily Show was cool cool, 0:22:19.040 --> 0:22:21.600 it was it was the Bush administration that really I 0:22:21.600 --> 0:22:24.960 think launched it. I mean, Craig Kilborne was great and 0:22:25.000 --> 0:22:27.960 I was a fan from then, but again that's just 0:22:27.960 --> 0:22:30.520 because I'm a comedy nerd. I think in the zeitgeist, 0:22:30.600 --> 0:22:33.280 it really was George Bush that kind of catapulted the 0:22:33.320 --> 0:22:38.960 Daily Show. Um, and so yeah, everybody I think had 0:22:39.000 --> 0:22:43.639 the attitude that they had because no one seemed bigger 0:22:43.680 --> 0:22:47.439 than anybody else. You know, there wasn't the structure that 0:22:47.520 --> 0:22:51.159 exists where there's the star and there's the kind of 0:22:51.160 --> 0:22:54.080 star and there. You know, like everybody was kind of 0:22:54.080 --> 0:22:56.480 figuring it out. And as the show started to pick 0:22:56.600 --> 0:22:58.879 up and we were all sort of a part of 0:22:58.920 --> 0:23:03.879 that together. Yeah, I remember that that year, so I 0:23:03.920 --> 0:23:07.800 got kind of officially brought into the cast and was 0:23:07.920 --> 0:23:11.399 in the regular season after Anger Anger Management, I was 0:23:11.440 --> 0:23:14.000 just there. I was like part of the show. And 0:23:14.480 --> 0:23:19.240 the Emmys were around that time, and that year the 0:23:19.400 --> 0:23:23.720 Daily Show and The Office one Emmys for Best Show 0:23:24.320 --> 0:23:28.840 and I was like, I'm doing something right. This is 0:23:28.920 --> 0:23:33.480 going pretty good. But that was that was really fun. 0:23:33.600 --> 0:23:35.760 That was and the Emmy's of course, was such a 0:23:35.840 --> 0:23:41.840 fun thing for the cast and everybody just oh man, 0:23:41.960 --> 0:23:45.600 those are those are great, the salad days, the salad days, 0:23:45.640 --> 0:24:06.760 good times. How much do you think the character of 0:24:06.840 --> 0:24:16.800 Andy is like you? Well, I would say that not 0:24:16.960 --> 0:24:20.200 very He's not very much like me, but only because 0:24:20.480 --> 0:24:25.280 I'm I have better editing mechanisms for my own behavior. 0:24:25.400 --> 0:24:28.920 But I think a lot of Andy's impulses and instincts 0:24:29.240 --> 0:24:34.040 are you know, I relate to Um. He's just not 0:24:35.200 --> 0:24:39.040 self aware enough to put a check on them. There 0:24:39.040 --> 0:24:42.919 are things that I actually really envy about Andy that 0:24:43.000 --> 0:24:48.080 I wish I was more like Um. And the Angela storyline, really, 0:24:48.880 --> 0:24:51.520 I think brought that out. That that was a thing 0:24:51.560 --> 0:24:54.440 that made me. I mean, I was kind of loved 0:24:54.800 --> 0:24:59.320 Andy's douche baggery from a comedy standpoint, it's just fun 0:24:59.400 --> 0:25:05.520 and ridiculou liss. But the Angela stuff like just seeing 0:25:05.640 --> 0:25:09.439 him really put his heart on his sleeve. I felt 0:25:09.480 --> 0:25:11.560 that's when I really fell in love with this, this 0:25:12.200 --> 0:25:16.119 character and I and that's something that I I've always 0:25:16.119 --> 0:25:19.440 struggled with maybe it's part of just our southern upbringing, 0:25:19.480 --> 0:25:24.720 but like expressing emotions in real ways and being transparent 0:25:24.840 --> 0:25:28.880 and being you know, just chasing something that you love 0:25:29.040 --> 0:25:31.080 and that means a lot to you. It's that was 0:25:32.040 --> 0:25:33.800 that's hard. That was hard for me. It was hard 0:25:33.800 --> 0:25:37.520 for me to kind of mature in that way. Uh. 0:25:38.560 --> 0:25:42.040 And Andy is just he's the best, Like, that's the 0:25:42.440 --> 0:25:45.679 he's he fell in love with Angela and I was like, 0:25:45.800 --> 0:25:49.560 this is it. I'm all in and I love you, 0:25:49.640 --> 0:25:52.359 and he and everybody knew it, and he was. There 0:25:52.400 --> 0:25:55.960 was no shame, there was no kind of reticence. And 0:25:56.000 --> 0:25:59.720 I think I just always loved that about Andy. And 0:25:59.760 --> 0:26:03.919 I think that his rage was a kind of the 0:26:03.960 --> 0:26:06.720 flip side of that, like he just wasn't able to 0:26:07.720 --> 0:26:12.560 kind of control the expression of his emotions. Uh, and 0:26:12.720 --> 0:26:16.800 sometimes when he should have, and it had beautiful consequences 0:26:16.800 --> 0:26:20.560 in in some of his romantic relationships and then obviously 0:26:20.800 --> 0:26:26.240 devastating consequences and in other ways. Right. But I think 0:26:26.280 --> 0:26:30.439 that that's what you know, Greg and the other writers 0:26:30.480 --> 0:26:34.200 and you obviously in creating that character and and everybody, 0:26:34.240 --> 0:26:38.880 but you know, we talked a lot about I've talked 0:26:38.920 --> 0:26:45.399 a lot about the more specific the characters are drawn, 0:26:46.320 --> 0:26:50.200 the more universal they become. And so you think, oh, 0:26:50.320 --> 0:26:53.600